Following the letter to the 2014 AIDP Congress, published and commented in this Review, pope Francis further proposes his reflections on punishment with a speech to an AIDP delegation (October 2014) and with a letter to the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty (March 2015). These contributions are by now clearly tracing the pope’s approach to the ‘criminal issue’. The pro homine principle stands as the core, demanding that punishment, in its structure and essential elements, promotes the human dignity of the convicted criminal. Therefore, punishment cannot be established as mere proportionality to the negativity of crime, but –on the contrary— as aiming at the achievement of a restorative justice, while leaving detention as extrema ratio. The use of criminal law to create scapegoats in order to avoid facing social problems that would, instead, deserve real attention is remarked. Similarly, the involvement, in many states, of the political power into the commission of serious crimes (torture, trafficking, corruption) is well underlined. In addition, death penalty is labelled as absolutely unacceptable and by no means considerable as a form of self-defence, also highlighting that capital punishment is often in practice applied also in countries that have officially abolished it. As a consequence, such a religion-founded reflection, rooted on the idea of cautela in poena, emerges as a crucial cultural contribution to the reform of the role and intervention mechanisms of criminal law.

Dopo la Lettera al congresso AIDP del 2014, già pubblicata e commentata in questa Rivista, papa Francesco torna a riflettere sulla pena con un discorso dell’ottobre 2014 a una delegazione AIDP e con una Lettera del marzo 2015 al Presidente della Commissione internazionale contro la pena di morte. Questi testi delineano, ormai, un approccio complessivo del pontefice al problema penale. Al centro viene posto il principio pro homine secondo cui la pena è chiamata ad assumere contenuti di promozione della dignità del condannato non più costruiti in termini di corrispondenza alla negatività del reato, ma orientati a finalità di giustizia riparativa che attribuiscano effettivamente alla detenzione il ruolo di ultima ratio. Viene rimarcato come si faccia uso, sovente, del diritto penale creando capri espiatori, al fine di non affrontare problemi sociali che richiederebbero ben altre risposte. Come altresì si sottolinea il coinvolgimento, in molti paesi, degli stessi pubblici poteri nella realizzazione di reati gravi (tortura, tratta, corruzione). Si ribadisce, inoltre, l’assoluta inaccettabilità della pena di morte, che mai può essere considerata una manifestazione della legittima difesa: evidenziando come essa, spesso, sia applicata di fatto anche in paesi che l’hanno formalmente abolita. Ne deriva il recupero di un importante contributo culturale della riflessione di matrice religiosa alla riforma dei criteri d’intervento della giustizia penale, ispirato all’idea della cautela in poena.

Eusebi, L., "Cautela in poena", <<RIVISTA ITALIANA DI DIRITTO E PROCEDURA PENALE>>, 2015; LVIII (1): 469-481 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/67230]

"Cautela in poena"

Eusebi, Luciano
2015

Abstract

Following the letter to the 2014 AIDP Congress, published and commented in this Review, pope Francis further proposes his reflections on punishment with a speech to an AIDP delegation (October 2014) and with a letter to the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty (March 2015). These contributions are by now clearly tracing the pope’s approach to the ‘criminal issue’. The pro homine principle stands as the core, demanding that punishment, in its structure and essential elements, promotes the human dignity of the convicted criminal. Therefore, punishment cannot be established as mere proportionality to the negativity of crime, but –on the contrary— as aiming at the achievement of a restorative justice, while leaving detention as extrema ratio. The use of criminal law to create scapegoats in order to avoid facing social problems that would, instead, deserve real attention is remarked. Similarly, the involvement, in many states, of the political power into the commission of serious crimes (torture, trafficking, corruption) is well underlined. In addition, death penalty is labelled as absolutely unacceptable and by no means considerable as a form of self-defence, also highlighting that capital punishment is often in practice applied also in countries that have officially abolished it. As a consequence, such a religion-founded reflection, rooted on the idea of cautela in poena, emerges as a crucial cultural contribution to the reform of the role and intervention mechanisms of criminal law.
2015
Italiano
Il testo costituisce un commento al “Discorso del Santo Padre Francesco alla Delegazione dell’Associazione Internazionale di Diritto Penale” (23 Ottobre 2014) e alla “Lettera del Santo Padre Francesco al Presidente della Commissione internazionale contro la pena di morte” (20 marzo 2015)
Eusebi, L., "Cautela in poena", <<RIVISTA ITALIANA DI DIRITTO E PROCEDURA PENALE>>, 2015; LVIII (1): 469-481 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/67230]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10807/67230
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